For a long time, a majority of African countries have not been proactively mitigating the negative impact of drought and flood events. As a result, relief initiatives are often too late to stem the loss of lives and other social and economic impacts. To address this challenge, and assessing tree-based data from 1665 through 2014, scientists developed the TANA chronology, a historic dataset named after Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile River running through Ethiopia. Read more

One would have thought that President Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate change accord would dampen morale and weaken resolve to implement the global climate deal. On the contrary, this action has spurred a positive counter effect. While expressing disappointment at the decision, leaders across the globe have reiterated their commitment to the Paris agreement. Industries, large corporations and business groups have shown leadership and solidarity by announcing move to attain cleaner energy and measures to integrate sustainability with business.

That was the message at a side event discussing climate finance with agroforestry case studies at the just concluded UN session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 46) in Bonn, Germany. The side event was organized by The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), OroVerde- Tropical Forest Foundation and Global Nature Fund.

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and partners have launched an innovative project to enhance sustainable management of community forests in Cameroon. The five-year project is known as DRYAD and is funded by DFID. It is being implemented in collaboration with TMP systems as well as NGOs and Community forest enterprises in Cameroon.

Cameroon has in recent years made commendable effort in the provision of community forestry management as a way to conserve forests. However, the potential for this approach is hampered by a lack of financial resources, technical and technological skills.

Land use planning processes in Peru over the last several years – based on the contribution of Ecological and Economic Zoning (ZEE) – have provided a space for the development and analysis of up-to-date information, and for inter-institutional dialogue together with civil society. In this context, the Regional Environmental Authority of the Regional Government of Ucayali in Peru is interested in investing in integrated territorial planning that considers economic and social aspects as well as climate change mitigation. The planning would be based on a better understanding of alternative development scenarios and their direct implications on greenhouse gas emissions and availability of water resources.

In what can be considered as a feat for most developing nations, the new climate agreement adopted in Paris has elevated adaptation to a level comparable to mitigation in efforts to cope and deal with climate change.

Article 7 of the new text acknowledges adaptation as a global goal essential to sustainable development and calls for “international cooperation on adaptation efforts and the importance of taking into account the needs of developing country Parties, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.”